Ribbon cut at new Mission Training Center Published Oct. 2, 2008 By Staff Sgt. Nathan Gallahan 48th Fighter Wing Public Affairs RAF LAKENHEATH, United Kingdom -- The 48th Operations Support Squadron's new Mission Training Center opened Sept. 30 during a ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by the 48th Operations Group commander. The mission training center includes four F-15 Strike Eagle cockpit simulators. Two of the cockpits are for pilots, and the other two are for weapon system officers. A pilot cockpit and WSO cockpit make a complete system, thus creating two complete virtual F-15s in the mission training center. "The simulators will allow us to train for scenarios we never want to see in real life, such as engine fires and other aircraft emergencies," said Capt. Angelo Botticelli, F-15 WSO with the 48th OSS. "These simulators also allow us to change the level of difficulty to the aircrew members experience level. Aircrew members with more than 3,000 hours will need a lot more challenge to their scenarios than aircrew members with 150." Another aspect, soon to be online, will be the facility's ability to link with other simulators around the world, known as the Distributed Mission Operations training network. "We'll be able to link up with others in aircraft and forward air control simulators to train in realistic scenarios that incorporate the latest information from downrange," Capt. Botticelli said. "This MTC has so dramatically improved our simulation based training capability, that it challenges the very assumptions with which we have trained our aircrew over the last few decades," Colonel John Quintas, 48th OG commander said during his speech. "This MTC has caused the Air Force and RAF Lakenheath to readdress each of the programs that we design to develop aviators from their very basic qualification to flight lead, instructor and evaluator."